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Partner Bios
Patrick Merrill
COFOUNDER AND GENERAL PARTNER
Prior to founding Merrill Research in 1986, Mr. Merrill had been the Director of Marketing Research for Regis McKenna Inc. a leading high tech marketing strategy and communications consultancy. He was responsible for all primary and secondary research activities for RMI on a worldwide basis. Prior to Regis McKenna Inc., Mr. Merrill's experience included senior research positions at Activision, Levi Strauss & Co., Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co. and Heublein Wines.
Mr. Merrill has 25+ years of custom marketing research experience and is equally adept at quantitative and qualitative projects. His keen interest includes research methodology and study design, sampling and approach to questioning respondents. He is a wine enthusiast and research expert in the wine and alcoholic beverage industries, and has been invited to speak at wine conference around the world. His articles have appeared in leading wine industry publications. His background also includes many years' experience in the financial services, consumer and business technology sectors.
Mr. Merrill began his research career in Cincinnati, Ohio with Burke Marketing Research, the largest custom marketing research firm in the world. Mr. Merrill earned an MBA from the University of Illinois with an emphasis in Marketing and Quantitative Analysis. His undergraduate degree is in Marketing with an emphasis in Psychology and Advertising.
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David Schneer
COFOUNDER AND GENERAL PARTNER
Prior to founding Merrill Research, LLC in 1986, Mr. David Schneer had most recently been a Marketing Consultant at Regis McKenna Inc. Prior to that, Mr. Schneer had started the marketing research function at Regis McKenna Inc. in 1978 where he pioneered the use of electronic information retrieval systems. He was also responsible for managing primary research projects, both quantitative and qualitative.
Mr. Schneer has over 24 years experience conducting research in the worldwide semiconductor and telecommunications markets. Mr. Schneer's expertise includes research to support the following types of semiconductor technology including, but not limited to, DSPs, analog and mixed signal devices, CISC and RISC-based microprocessors, network ICs/communications silicon, security processors, logic integration (PLDs, CPLDs, FPGAs), microcontrollers, memory products, ASICS, GaAS, semiconductor IP, frequency control components, digital television semiconductors, EDA tools, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Mr. Schneer has helped the world's leading semiconductor companies with research to support new product development (emerging applications, end-equipment feature prioritization, ergonomics, usability, ethnography) and strategic communications (advertising development, advertising evaluation, marketing, public relations and positioning) initiatives.
In addition to his semiconductor work, Mr. Schneer has extensive research experience understanding the needs of the following audiences in the product development chain: design engineering community, software engineers, OEMs, the distribution channel (VARs, Systems Integrators, wholesalers, retailers, industrial distribution, sophisticated end-users), the IT community, senior executives and consumer end-users. He also has notable experience conducting research internationally in EMEA and APAC.
Mr. Schneer began his career as a writer for the San Diego Bureau of the Los Angeles Times. Mr. Schneer earned a Masters degree in modern American literature from the University of California at Berkeley and he holds a BA in Political Science and Journalism from San Diego State University.
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Dean Abt
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF CLIENT CARE
A 24-year research veteran, Dean Abt brings a unique blend of client-side, supplier-side and web-services experience to Merrill. Most recently, he served as the VP of End Clients at e-Rewards. During his client-side years in video gaming, Dean managed all consumer research, online research initiatives and business dynamics analysis for both hardware and software products. He spearheaded key knowledge initiatives during SEGA's rise to #1 in the '90s and pioneered a number of online research techniques at SegaSoft during the early years of online gaming and MMOGs. His research career also includes positions at Levi Strauss and several Bay Area consulting firms.
Dean is passionate about making information useful and has a rapidly developing interest in the applications of marketing research to the areas of clean energy technology, sustainable business and green marketing.
Dean received a BA from the University of California at Davis and an MS from San Jose State University.
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